Sevilla Preview

Sevilla Awaits

Match: Sevilla – Real Madrid
Date: 26/04/2009
Time: 19:00
Venue: Sánchez Pizjuán
Matchday: 33

Real Madrid travels to Seville on Sunday in a bid to keep up the chase of Barcelona for the La Liga crown. Real will have it all to do as Barcelona will have played Valencia on Saturday, and any possible slip-up from the cules will have to be exploited. Then again, this game, like the game against Getafe, will be a difficult one and there is potential for a Real loss. The Real players will thus have to ensure a victory with some of the fighting spirit we saw in the final 10 minutes against Getafe, and not the awful passages of play that dominated the first 80 minutes of the game.

Sevilla News:

Sevilla has a good squad, and they are third in the league so they really cannot be taken lightly. Offensively they have a great compliment of forwards, although Kanoute seems to be the only one who has been scoring regularly. Kone has returned from injury but has yet to find the back of the net, while Luis Fabiano has had a pretty frustrating year and has not been scoring much of anything (goals or ladies, heyyy ohhh!). Renato has actually scored more league goals then Luis Fabiano this term, so I think it may make more sense to have Kanoute and Renato as the attackers against Real.

Against Barcelona, Jimenez put out a team that was destined for failure, with Romaric and Maresca as the central midfield. I can only pray that Real gets such a favor. My guess is that Maresca is replaced by either Fazio or Duscher as the anchorman. Jesus Navas, the danger man of the side along with opposite side winger Diego Capel, will be what will cause us the most problems. I dont see Romaric as bettering Lass in the midfield, while Gago and Duscher seem like a good tussle. The question lies with the two full backs. Sergio Ramos is all to often bested by Capel, while Marcelo could be tossed around like a rag doll by Capel. My answer for that is below, but in a nut shell, Torres plays left back and Ramos attacks alot so that Capel has to track back and help Navarro out.

Sevilla’s defense is weak in my opinion, with the two French center backs easily riled up and not to tough to get past. Escude has La Liga pedigree, but Squillaci is not good enough to start in La Liga, as he was really just a decent player for Lyon. Attacking them head on would be a wise move, except Hunter and Raul are not really going to press them with speed and skill. So through the wings we must work, as Hunter can effectively challenge both in the air and on the ground for crosses. So Ramos and either Marcelo or Drenthe will need to provide good service.

And Sevilla have Spain’s second best keeper in Andres Palop. I dont really fancy Pepe Reina to much for some reason, simply because Palop’s reflex saves are just incredible. He wont be easy to beat, but if Hunter is allowed space in the box then it wont be a question of when but how. Like that? Yeah, a little tricky there.

Real Madrid News:

Wesley Sneijder -injured with a Grade II muscle tear on the left femoral biceps-, Gabriel Heinze -traumatic sinovitis on the right knee- and Arjen Robben -fibrilar tear on the right triceps surae- all worked out in the gym as they recover from their injuries. Sneijder is done for the season now, but Robben is probably gonna miss El Clasico. Heinze will probably miss this match as a precaution, or a god send if your Iker Casillas. Huntelaar trained on his own but should be okay to play on Sunday.

Pepe is obviously suspended, and feels that he does not want to return to football. Sleep it off. Higuain is also suspended, but I believe there is an appeal to get that card rescinded. It shouldn’t be, but it might. Lass returns, and there is a very good chance Faubert or Salgado will make the squad list because of all of the injuries and suspensions.

My probable (highly probable) lineup for Sunday:

—————Casillas—————
Ramos—Metzelder–Canna—Torres
Guti——-Lass—-Gago——Marcelo
—————Raul——————-
————Huntelaar—————-

This is more of an ideal lineup in my mind, but I could see Juande doing this:

————–Casillas————–
Torres—Ramos—Canna—Marcelo
Guti——Lass—–Gago—–Drenthe
———-Raul————————
—————Huntelaar————-

It may make more sense this way, but it shows a complete lack of faith in Metzelder, and puts Drenthe on the field for more then 25 minutes which usually means he is pretty ineffective after that. I think Drenthe should be an impact sub and Marcelo will do better over the course of the game at left mid with Torres behind him. It just seems a little more solid, and it gives Ramos a little more license to attack at his home stadium as there will be an effective three man shift if he gets caught up field.

The double pivot is obvious, even though Gago has looked iffy. He did indeed “setup” Higuain’s two goals against Getafe, but the first was more of a defensive error and the second was really all Higuain’s doing. Parejo is probably not ready to start such a game, but my hope is he gets a chance in this game because he has been decent in his few cameos. Guti on the “right”, which is the position I have always wanted him to have, as it allows Ramos the freedom of the flank, but also means Guti can roam around a little more and be more creative. He will of course have to tackle back on Navarro who attacks a fair bit, and that might be a challenge for Juande to convince Guti to do just that.

Up front is a no brainer, but if Hunter is not 100% we will get the awesome tandem of Raul and Saviola. Two players to run around without much purpose! Raul will probably be dropping deep again even with Guti freed, so Hunter will be knocking balls down and holding the play up to start attacking moves. Saviola on the other hand gives us the ability to squander chances and look useless even while earning 5 million + a year!

If Real wants to win this game, they are going to have to take Sevilla apart just like Barcelona did. Lots of passing through their lines. Barca move the ball well, but their players move off the ball so much that it confuses to opposition. While I cant expect for much movement off the ball from this team, I would like to see more passing between the Real lines. Keep Sevilla pressed back and deprive them of the ball and we should get in their head like Barca did. We wont thrash them 4-0, but we can win this game.

My prediction is 2-1 for Real. Hunter with a brace because he is primed for a goal, but Renato will pull one back late just to keep all us Madridista nervous. Jimenez just doesnt have the chops to beat the big teams in Spain (Sevilla is a big team in Spain now, but they cant get passed Barca, Real, Valencia and Atleti with any consistency), and going up against former Sevilla coach Juande Ramos will be to tall a task, as most of the current squad are players Juande either tutored or brought in. Should be a cracker though. Game time is 1pm eastern time, 13 GMT on Sunday. I will be doing a liveblog of the game on Cover It Live, so stop by early to get involved in the banter!

HALA MADRID!!!

Category: Team News

Tags: Team News

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